A Buck Ninety-Five

One could call Wanderlei Silva the Goldie Locks of MMA. For him, 205-pounds is too big, and middleweight is too small. However, the Brazilian states that 195-pounds is just right.

“I talked with (UFC President) Dana (White) three or four events ago, and I said, ‘We need to create a new division at 195 (pounds),'” Silva stated. “Because for me, my normal weight is 210 or 208 (pounds). For 205, it’s not too much (weight to cut). For 185, it’s a lot. For 195, it’s perfect.”

Although conversations have taken place regarding the possibly adding additional divisions, the UFC doesn’t want to risk watering down their divisions for the sake of handing out more title belts like boxing has.

“[White] has got a lot of work,” Silva said about when he thought the UFC would seriously consider expansion. “There’s a lot of divisions, a lot of fighters. But now, maybe this is the first fight and in the future we’ll have a new division. (There’s) a lot of fighters in my situation.”

The former PrideFC 205-pound champion believes that there are a lot of “tweeners” out there, caught in the middle of the large gaps between the UFC’s various weight classes.

“I think in the future we’ll have this division,” Silva said. “I think it’s a very good division. Guys like Forrest (Griffin) are 230-240 (pounds). For him 205 pounds is good because he’s so much stronger.”

For now, he gets this one chance to shine at 195-pounds, as he will be colliding with former UFC middleweight champ Rich Franklin at UFC 99 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany.

After the June 13th tussle, Silva isn’t sure what division he’ll will be fighting in, but the 32-year-old wants to assure his fans that there are still many more sick fights to come.

“There’s a lot of guys in both divisions,” Silva said. “I’ll go back and fight again maybe in December. There’s a lot of time to have other opponents.”